India’s one of the highest ranked female Tennis player Sania Mirza announces her retirement plans after a first-round exit in women’s doubles at the Australian open.
“This will be my Last Season” announced Mirza at her age of 35 on Wednesday. As her “body wearing down”, Mirza also reveals that her “knee is hurting” and it is taking time to recover.
In her exceptional career as a Tennis player, Mirza has won 6 Grand Slams and has reached the sunmit of the WTA doubles ranking. Started her career as a professional tennis player in 2003, Mirza has won total of 14 medals (including 6 gold) at 3 major multi-sport events namely the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, and the and the Afro-Asian Games. Mirza was named one of the “Fifty Heroes of Asia” by Times in October 2005. She was appointed as the UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the event held to mark the International Day To End Violence Against Women on 25 November 2013.
The Government of India has awarded Mirza the Arjuna Award in the year 2004, the Padma Shri in 2006 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016.
“There’s a few reasons for it. It’s not as simple as ‘okay I’m not going to play’. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I’m putting my 3-year-old son at risk by travelling so much with him, that’s something I have to take into account.”, said Mirza.
